Lessons Learned in Namibia

As many of you know, I spent the last week in Namibia helping to train coaches on the new curriculum designed for Special Olympics Namibia and it proved to be one of the hardest weeks I have had since I have been here. There is a reason for everything and I believe that there are positives that come from life’s tough experiences (as me and my grandma call it “Character Building”).

There are a few funny things/experiences that I had this past week in Namibia that I would like to share. First, driving on the other side of the road is a little tricky. Additionally, a majority of the cars in Africa are manual transmissions, which I have known how to drive for almost ten years. Though coupling these things together made for and interesting first day of driving. We also had the cheapest rental car, so it is not like the newer manual transmissions that are easy to shift. I had a hard time getting the car in second gear, so most of the time I would shift from first to fourth. One time, I actually started the car in third gear which is pretty amazing if you ask me, but not really the best way to do it. I also almost pulled out into moving traffic because I was looking the wrong direction. Let’s just say, my first 45 minutes of driving were pretty rough! However, once I was by myself, I really figured it out.

A couple things that made it easier was when there are other cars on the road, or there is a stop sign when you turn, so you know which side to drive down. It is just pretty difficult in parking lots because people drive all over the place and I never knew exactly where to go. Also, the taxi's honk at everyone walking down the street, so as you drive down the road there is constant honking . It is hard to tell whether people are honking at you, but most of the time its at someone else. I did get a few angry honks and one of those times was when I gave up my right away to let pedestrians cross the street. Apparently, you don’t do that!!

Another funny driving experience is I ran more orange/red lights that I ever had. There is only two lights or “robots” as they are called here, that have arrows to help you turn. A lot of the time you have to inch out and then wait till the light is yellow or red to turn. The other difference about robots is that when the other drivers see that the light for the cross traffic changes to yellow or red, they instantly go. So when you are at a red light the vehicle next to you has already crossed into the intersection. It really does take some getting use too. It did feel good to be driving because that is something that I enjoy so much.


Secondly, I learned that it is bad to play with little kids and rub your eyes at the same time. I got the worst case of pink eye, I have ever had. On Friday I wore my sunglasses all day because of how gross my eyes were and how bad they stung. I was lucky because two of the volunteers that we were training were from Germany and they had eye drops for eye infections in their first aid kit. One of the guys I work with here in Cape Town is a doctor, so Monday morning at work I am going to have him write me a proper prescription. I definitely learned my lesson about being more careful about rubbing my eyes!!

And finally I learned that in Windhoek you had better not get sick Saturday at two o’clock as all of the pharmacies close at one pm, and they are closed until Monday. Even the ones at the hospital are closed. So it is really important to only get sick during the week, or you won’t get any medicine :)

I really learned a lot about the city of Windhoek and met some really great people. The training we had was for volunteers to pilot the HIV/AIDS curriculum for kids with disabilities. It really is a unique program and I look forward to going back and working with the coaches/volunteers to help in there delivery of the programs.

This week there is a holiday camp going on in Cape Town, so I will be pretty busy all week with that, helping out. I am just going to spend Monday in the office, and then I should be out in the Townships helping with the camp the rest of the week. I am positive that I will have a ton of picture and good stories to share with you.

With Love,

Sarah

A whole lot of work

So this week has been really busy. I have been planning a training for 15 Special Olympic Voluteers. I had to book the venue, caterers, and all other details from Cape Town. So I am hoping that everything runs smoothly. I still have tomorrow to get everything together, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

I really did not do a lot this week but work..so nothing new and excieting to report. But yesterday was really fun. First, I went out to the townships and helped tutor 6 grade students on English. It was really fun and challenging. I had about 15 kids in my group and I was trying to help them with spelling (which if any of you know me well you know I am the wrong gal for that), but it was easy words like mother and lunch. The kids in the tutor group were writing about their school days. One of the employees of GRS is here from the US for the year and the information they wrote is going to go back to his daughters school in the US. My group wrote about LUNCH and whether they brought it from home, who makes it for them, and whether they liked it. The experience very much reminded me of my days of working with the Burundian Refugees in Knoxville.

(thats right it was Game Day, and my UT shirt was on under my Grassroot Soccer one, so I had to wear the UT HAT!!! GO VOLS

When I got back from tutoring, one of the other interns Alex and I went to the Signal Hill and then Llandoadno Beach. It was AWESOME. From Signal Hill you can look out over Cape Town and get great views of Lions Head Mountain (which people were hang gliding off of), Table Mountain and the Ocean.

The beach though was by far my favorite. There was a huge ledge of rocks that we climbed (which was kinda like hick) but not really. It was so amazing!! I love playing in the water.. even though on the beach there were jelly fish everywhere. Then we drove back (alex is still learning to drive a manual transmission, YIKES) along the coastline.

It really has been a great week, full of a lot of work and good time with friends. Sorry so short, but I wanted to share more pictures, so enjoyI won’t have a lot of internet this week so I might not post again until next Sunday.. But I will have a lot of great stories and pictures.. I promise!!!

Love ya,

Sarah

Yesterday was Awesome

So I am back in Cape Town for a week and a half, and then I go back up to Namibia for a training, then back to Cape Town for two weeks were we hope I get my VISA processed by then. The policy in Namibia is really tight and so we are having to coordinate everything very carefully.

Currently I am staying in the intern house in Cape Town and it is really fun to be surrounded by people I know. But yesterday they went and did an activity and I stayed home; it was wonderful. I watched a movie and then ran on a path right next to the ocean. It was AMAZING. Also, in Namibia I am at a fairly high elevation and I struggle with my asthma, so it was pretty nice to be here and breathe normally (or as normal as I do breathe).

Then I took a shower and walked the other way down the path of the beach. That is where I took all of these pictures. It is literally like a two minute walk from the intern house. Needless to say the house is in prime location.

One of the funniest things on my walk was when I fell. I stepped on a spot where the waves come up over the rocks. It was really funny and my knee is a little tender, as well as the tip of my pointer finger (which is cut fairly badly). It was Awesome, and only this little girl saw me do it, so that made it even funnier.

Then we went and had a girls night, where all of the girls in the house went out to dinner. It really has been a great couple of days. I will be working a lot in the office to get things ready for the training we are running on the 22nd.... but that will be really fun !!!

Also, the internet connection is so great here that I have got to have some good phone calls with my mom, Doug and Debbie Moye, and Aunt Roberta. It has been great to talk with them!!!

I miss you all!!

Sarah

Back from the Beach

So, I am back from the Namibian Coast. It was so nice to be in a place where there were clouds. I know that sounds funny, but I have had nothing but sunshine all day, everyday for three weeks, so it was nice to be somewhere with a little cloud coverage.

I went surfing for the first time!! It was probably not the best place for beginners but it was still pretty fun. I did see a sea lion about five feet away, and there was a dolphin about 5 meters behind me. I did not see it and that was probably better because I probably would have fallen off the surf board. There was also a shark that breached about 50 meters from where we were. That is when I was done and I got out. But the other two were soon to follow.

It really was fun. I can't wait to go back to the beach in the summer when it is warm. I didn't take a lot of pictures, because I really just relaxed - read some books, and watched two movies at the movie theater.

It was a great weekend. Happy Labor Day to everyone in the States, I miss you all!!! I am headed back to Cape Town on Wednesday, to get my VISA taken care of. Hopefully, it will be very simple and won't take too long.

Have a great night..

Sarah

The Namibian Sunrise

This week has been completely exhausting, but even more rewarding. I have been helping lead a training that will train 20 NAWA Volunteers to deliver the 14 practice curriculum to soccer teams around Namibia. Lets just say it is tough to help facilitate a training on something that you have just been a part of for one week.

First, Namibia is absolutely beautiful. I can honestly say I have never seen a prettier/clear sky in my life. And one of my goals while I am in Africa is to start running on a consistent basis. SO this week, I got started.. everyday but Thursday I would be running at 6ish. So I got to see a few sunrises and that is when I took the photos. It is the desert, but it is beautiful, on the 40 minute drive there and back today I wanted to sing the LION KING theme song!!

The guest house that I have been staying at in Okahanja has been so nice, it would be a great place to relax (but I worked most of the week) and it has the most amazing breakfast. As far as lunch and dinner go, we have been eating where the training has been. Needless to say, breakfast was by far my favorite, and I have eaten more meat in the last week then I have in the last month. Namibians like their meat!!! I opted out of eating the goat vertebrae, but that seemed to bother some of the participants, so even though my stomach is a little frustrated at me, I continued to eat meat.

One of the things I have been struggling with greatly, is the overwhelming emotions/defeat that I have felt in regards to the HIV/AIDS epidemic here in Africa. It is one thing to watch it on the TV or read about it in a book, but the actually be in a mix where one in every five people has the disease is absolutely overwhelming. In my life, prior to coming here I did not know anyone personally that carried the disease. However, here everyone has a family member or close friend that has HIV or has died from HIV. At the coaches training there was one girl that was HIV positive. She shared her story with me and it literally broke my heart! The way she found out was similar to the way that many women do; they find out in routine pregnancy check-ups. Now her 3 year old daughter is living with HIV and she is so hopeful and so responsible with taking the medications and giving them to her daughter; she really can be an advocate for people trying to coach with their HIV Status.

It also incorporates things like praising the participants (Telling them what they did, Labeling it with words other than that was good, and Celebrating it), how to create a safe space (where people feel open to share private conversations), making personal connections with all participants and how to facilitate vital conversations where participants are discussing the real issues at hand instead of just what the “correct” or “book” answer. It is rare that one gets to have such in-depth conversations with people, but this is what this week was all about. I had some of the best, most informative conversations that I have ever been apart of; and though I can not share them with you, lets just say it gave me a lot of hope and excitement about what I am doing here and what my goals are here in Africa.

But also with all of the talking we got to play in some fun games that include soccer, like HIV Attacks (dodge ball) where the person in the middle is a HUMAN while another participant is the immune system. In this game you stand in a circle and try to throw the ball at the Human who cannot move but the immune system can run around and protect the human. Then you add another person who represents HIV and the HIV latches on to the Immune System and it makes it a lot easier to hit the Human with the ball. Then you add in ARV (treatment) to hold onto the HIV so that the immune system can protect the Human again. However, at the end of the game HIV gets back a hold of the Immune System and the ARV’s and the Human is again left unprotected.

We played a lot of different games through out the week: Circumcise and Condomize, Risk Field, Fact Fitness, My supporters, Break-Away, Team Handball, Choices, Healthy vs Unhealthy Behaviors, and Gender Fishbowl. I have provided some pictures of risk field and Circumcise and Condomize.

The Gender Fishbowl activity is really neat because you separate the girls and boys into two groups. The girls go first and the boys just listen to questions about (being a female growing up in Namibia, what men could do to respect women more and so on). Then they switch and the men do the same discussion. It is really

neat to hear the perspective of men. If this activity would be done in the US it would be totally different, but here where women are inferior to men; especially when multiple concurrent partners is so common and is fueling the HIV epidemic.

One thing that we got to do was play in a scrimmage game between the best all male team in Okahanja. First, they were not happy that I

was playing. Even though I didn’t do anything but run around and chase the ball (everyone is a little quicker than me.. or a lot quicker) they were not happy that a “lady” was playing. And we beat them, it was so fun!! We called ourselves CHAR-SEN-POOL-UNITED !!!

So, tomorrow, I am taking a bus with Taylor (a Grassroot Soccer Employee) to the beach. We don’t know where we are going to stay or what we are going to do. This is a little different for me as I normally plan things out. But I will take pictures and keep you posted.

Also, I would like to give a shout out to the TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS, good luck in your game, and may this season be better than last!!